Parade

Ask Marilyn: Help! I'm So Much Smarter Than My Boss

A.J. (city withheld) writes:

Marilyn: My problem is that I'm obviously smarter than my boss, and he resents this. What can I do? Marilyn responds:

Make it less obvious. Better yet, make it not obvious, the same as you would do for anyone else. Also, it's possible that you resent the fact that he's your boss, and you're trying to compete with him by using your smarts against him. It's a common problem. You should use your intelligence to make your boss look good—never to make him feel bad.